Buying a vehicle at a dealership that offers in-house financing can be tricky. Usually it’s because the rates at which the dealer offers financing suck. But what happens if that dealer closes or goes under all of a sudden? A mess, as Atlanta’s WSB-TV reports.
Georgia-based U.S. Auto Sales suddenly closed all 39 of its dealerships a few months ago, leaving behind unpaid employees and nearly 500 cars in its inventory. The company also left behind hundreds, if not thousands, of customers who had purchased vehicles from the dealers and financed them in house. Many of these customers were in good standing, with all of their payments made on time.
But when a new company called Westlake Portfolio Management started handling the loans from U.S. Auto Sales, these customers started receiving collection calls on accounts that were never late. Ricky Osborne is one of those customers who has been receiving delinquency letters and phone calls:
“Never missed a payment. Never been late on one. (The letter) said everyone should have a second chance and if I would catch up on my late past due payments, everything would be ok. Never been late with them. I’ve got receipts showing everything.”
Osborne says he’s received nearly 50 phone calls since late April and has struggled trying to get ahold of someone at Westlake.
“I’ve gotten 46 phone calls since April 23,” Osborne said. “One day, I sat on the phone for two hours on hold, three hours on hold, four hours on hold. It took me three weeks to get through and talk to somebody.”
An attorney named Michael T. Flinn says he’s been contacted by customers of U.S Auto Sales who claim they never received things like tags and titles. Flinn says he’s been advising customers that U.S. Auto Sales “violated the agreement, they don’t have to pay.”
Osborne is also worried about the state of his extended warranty he purchased from U.S. Auto Sales. “It don’t even exist anymore. I can’t even use it. I paid $4,000 for an extended warranty for three years, 38,000 miles,” We’ve only put about 18,000 miles on the car,” Osborne said.
Luckily, WSB-TV was able to put Osborne in touch with someone at Westlake who assured him that his account is current, he doesn’t owe anything, and his extended warranty still exists and is being handled by a third party. As far as the rest of the situation, Westlake issued a statement saying, “We are committed to making this transition as seamless as possible for all customers of U.S. Auto Sales.”